Writing Quotes | Beyond Motive 4/25

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Writing Quotes

"I really enjoy writing novels. It's like the ocean. You can just build a boat and take off."

"I really enjoy writing novels. It's like the ocean. You can just build a boat and take off."

Denis Johnson, German Writer

14

"A novelist should not be too intelligent either, although... he may be permitted to be an intellectual."

"A novelist should not be too intelligent either, although... he may be permitted to be an intellectual."

Anthony Burgess, English Novelist

14

"Still today, I cannot cross the threshold of a teaching institution without physical symptoms, in my chest and my stomach, of discomfort or anxiety. And yet I have never left school."

"Still today, I cannot cross the threshold of a teaching institution without physical symptoms, in my chest and my stomach, of discomfort or anxiety. And yet I have never left school."

Jacques Derrida, French Philosopher

Writing, Anxiety, School, Teaching, Today

14

"It is my aim, and every effort bent, that the sum and history of my life, which in the same sentence is my obit and epitaph too, shall be them both: He made the books and he died."

"It is my aim, and every effort bent, that the sum and history of my life, which in the same sentence is my obit and epitaph too, shall be them both: He made the books and he died."

William Faulkner, American Novelist

Writing, History, Life, Books, Effort

14

"I don't know why directors sign on to these projects and completely rewrite everything."

"I don't know why directors sign on to these projects and completely rewrite everything."

Larry Wachowski, American Director

Writing, Projects

14

"I write a book over a period of months or years, and when I'm done with it, usually another year goes by before I see it in print. It's hard to be patient and wait."

"I write a book over a period of months or years, and when I'm done with it, usually another year goes by before I see it in print. It's hard to be patient and wait."

Margaret Haddix, American Author

Writing, Months, Years

14

"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."

"Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."

E. L. Doctorow, American Author

14

"I generally write a first draft that's pretty lean. Just get the story down."

"I generally write a first draft that's pretty lean. Just get the story down."

Nora Roberts, American Author

Writing, Draft, First, Pretty

14

"When I was a teenager, I got into SF, quite heavily, and that too has had a major impact on my writing."

"When I was a teenager, I got into SF, quite heavily, and that too has had a major impact on my writing."

George Stephen, Canadian Businessman

14

"I like the construction of sentences and the juxtaposition of words-not just how they sound or what they mean, but even what they look like."

"I like the construction of sentences and the juxtaposition of words-not just how they sound or what they mean, but even what they look like."

Don DeLillo, American Novelist

Writing, Sound, Words

14

"The lived experiences which could not find adequate scientific expression in the substance doctrine of rational psychology were now validated in light of new and better methods."

"The lived experiences which could not find adequate scientific expression in the substance doctrine of rational psychology were now validated in light of new and better methods."

Wilhelm Dilthey, German Historian

Writing, Doctrine, Expression, Light, Now

14

"Writing is like carrying a fetus."

"Writing is like carrying a fetus."

Edna O'Brien, Irish Novelist

14

"Your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person-a real person you know, or an imagined person-and write to that one."

"Your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person-a real person you know, or an imagined person-and write to that one."

John Steinbeck, American Author

Writing, Audience, Creativity, Focus

14

"Luckily, in my case, I have managed, by writing, to do the one thing that I always wanted to do."

"Luckily, in my case, I have managed, by writing, to do the one thing that I always wanted to do."

Jonathan Coe, English Novelist

14

"If I waited till I felt like writing, I'd never write at all."

"If I waited till I felt like writing, I'd never write at all."

Anne Tyler, American Novelist

14

"No one was going to stop me from writing and no one had to really guide me towards science fiction. It was natural, really, that I would take that interest."

"No one was going to stop me from writing and no one had to really guide me towards science fiction. It was natural, really, that I would take that interest."

Octavia Butler, American Writer

Writing, Science, Fiction, Interest

14

"I'm very involved in the writing on every level."

"I'm very involved in the writing on every level."

Fran Drescher, American Actress

14

"I started trying to write when I was in second or third grade."

"I started trying to write when I was in second or third grade."

Margaret Haddix, American Author

Writing, Trying

14

"In the last twenty years the colleges have been emphasizing creative writing to such an extent that you almost feel that any idiot with a nickel's worth of talent can emerge from a writing class able to write a competent story. In fact, so many people can now write competent stories that the short story as a medium is in danger of dying of competence. We want competence, but competence by itself is deadly. What is needed is the vision to go with it, and you do not get this from a writing class."

"In the last twenty years the colleges have been emphasizing creative writing to such an extent that you almost feel that any idiot with a nickel's worth of talent can emerge from a writing class able to write a competent story. In fact, so many people can now write competent stories that the short story as a medium is in danger of dying of competence. We want competence, but competence by itself is deadly. What is needed is the vision to go with it, and you do not get this from a writing class."

Flannery O'Connor, American Author

Writing, Creativity, Education, Skill

14

"When one is writing a novel in the first person, one must be that person."

"When one is writing a novel in the first person, one must be that person."

Daphne du Maurier, English Novelist

14

"I like pens. My writing is so amazing there's never a need to erase."

"I like pens. My writing is so amazing there's never a need to erase."

Todd Barry, American Comedian

14

"You have to imagine it possible before you can see something. You can have the evidence right in front of you, but if you can't imagine something that has never existed before, it's impossible."

"You have to imagine it possible before you can see something. You can have the evidence right in front of you, but if you can't imagine something that has never existed before, it's impossible."

Rita Dove, American Poet

13

"When I was about 14 or 15 I decided to become a writer and never for a moment since have I wanted to do anything else."

"When I was about 14 or 15 I decided to become a writer and never for a moment since have I wanted to do anything else."

Tobias Wolff, American Writer

13

"But maybe it's up in the hills under the leaves or in a ditch somewhere. Maybe it's never found. But what you find, whatever you find, is always only part of the missing, and writing is the way the poet finds out what it is he found."

"But maybe it's up in the hills under the leaves or in a ditch somewhere. Maybe it's never found. But what you find, whatever you find, is always only part of the missing, and writing is the way the poet finds out what it is he found."

Paul Engle, American Poet

13

"I'm really proud of the writing on Door to Door, and I think that's the Emmy that meant the most - the writing."

"I'm really proud of the writing on Door to Door, and I think that's the Emmy that meant the most - the writing."

William H. Macy, American Actor

13

"If you know anything about James Whitcomb Riley, you know that Little Orphan Annie is one of the most fantastic characters who ever lived in America before Charlie Chaplin."

"If you know anything about James Whitcomb Riley, you know that Little Orphan Annie is one of the most fantastic characters who ever lived in America before Charlie Chaplin."

Marguerite Young, American Author

Writing, America

13

"With my own memoirs, they are truthful, and I write everything fully expecting to some day end up televised on Court TV, and I'm fully prepared to be challenged legally on it."

"With my own memoirs, they are truthful, and I write everything fully expecting to some day end up televised on Court TV, and I'm fully prepared to be challenged legally on it."

Augusten Burroughs, American Writer

Writing, Court, Day, End

13

"Sometimes I can spend as long revising a manuscript as I spent writing it in the first place."

"Sometimes I can spend as long revising a manuscript as I spent writing it in the first place."

Margaret Haddix, American Author

13

"I've always been able to survive by writing, though."

"I've always been able to survive by writing, though."

John Milius, American Director

13

"And eventually as I kept writing it, something emerged that was not quite me but a version of me."

"And eventually as I kept writing it, something emerged that was not quite me but a version of me."

Larry David, American Actor

13

"The problem, for me, with the writing programs is that they produce a terrible uniformity of product."

"The problem, for me, with the writing programs is that they produce a terrible uniformity of product."

Peter Davison, British Actor

13

"Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie."

"Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie."

John le Carre, English Writer

Writing, Deserted, Walking

13

"No one inspired me to write, but writer Harlan Ellison terrified me into getting published."

"No one inspired me to write, but writer Harlan Ellison terrified me into getting published."

Dan Simmons, American Author

Writing, Writer

13

"I wrote the script of Patton. I had this very bizarre opening where he stands up in front of an American flag and gives this speech. Ultimately, I was fired. When the script was done, they hired another writer and that script was forgotten."

"I wrote the script of Patton. I had this very bizarre opening where he stands up in front of an American flag and gives this speech. Ultimately, I was fired. When the script was done, they hired another writer and that script was forgotten."

Francis Ford Coppola, American Director

Writing, Bizarre, Speech, Writer

13

"I really don't know what I am going to do in terms of what a book is going to be about until I actually start writing it!"

"I really don't know what I am going to do in terms of what a book is going to be about until I actually start writing it!"

Robert B. Parker, American Writer

13

"I just wrote what I felt like writing since they seemed to sell."

"I just wrote what I felt like writing since they seemed to sell."

Jack Vance, American Author

13

"I think you have an obligation to share what you know as a writer."

"I think you have an obligation to share what you know as a writer."

David Guterson, American Author

Writing, Obligation, Writer

13

"To write for PC reasons, because you think you ought to be dealing with this subject, is never going to yield anything that is really going to matter to anyone else. It has to matter to you."

"To write for PC reasons, because you think you ought to be dealing with this subject, is never going to yield anything that is really going to matter to anyone else. It has to matter to you."

Rita Dove, American Poet

13

"My words in her mind: cold polished stones sinking through a quagmire."

"My words in her mind: cold polished stones sinking through a quagmire."

James Joyce, Irish Novelist

13

"Over and over I'm on the point of giving it up."

"Over and over I'm on the point of giving it up."

Beatrice Wood, American Artist

Writing, Giving

13

"I forget a book as soon as I finish writing it, which is not always a good thing."

"I forget a book as soon as I finish writing it, which is not always a good thing."

Anne Tyler, American Novelist

Writing, Forget

13

"I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker."

"I am a writer perhaps because I am not a talker."

Gwendolyn Brooks, American Poet

Writing, Writer

13

"It's much like writing a screenplay with someone else and that's how we view it, I think."

"It's much like writing a screenplay with someone else and that's how we view it, I think."

Christopher Darden, American Lawyer

13

"Writing novels is the most exciting."

"Writing novels is the most exciting."

Sidney Sheldon, American Novelist

13

"The trajectory started when I was on the roof of our house looking out at a swamp when I was 19. I had written for several years, starting at about 15, but that day on the roof I took my vows and acknowledged my calling."

"The trajectory started when I was on the roof of our house looking out at a swamp when I was 19. I had written for several years, starting at about 15, but that day on the roof I took my vows and acknowledged my calling."

Jim Harrison, American Writer

Writing, Day, Years

13

"The writer wants to be understood much more than he wants to be respected or praised or even loved. And that perhaps, is what makes him different from others."

"The writer wants to be understood much more than he wants to be respected or praised or even loved. And that perhaps, is what makes him different from others."

Leo Rosten, American Novelist

Writing, Writer

13

"Write something, even if it's just a suicide note."

"Write something, even if it's just a suicide note."

Gore Vidal, American Novelist

Writing, Suicide

13

"I keep the drafts of each poem in color-coded folders. I pick up the folders according to how I feel about that color that day."

"I keep the drafts of each poem in color-coded folders. I pick up the folders according to how I feel about that color that day."

Rita Dove, American Poet

13

"Actually, the 14 novels were written over a period of just over 6 years."

"Actually, the 14 novels were written over a period of just over 6 years."

George Stephen, Canadian Businessman

13

"For a director and a producer to be named on the writing credits is practically unheard of."

"For a director and a producer to be named on the writing credits is practically unheard of."

Terry Southern, American Writer

13

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